Cats

What Is A Cat Friendly Clinic?

The International Society for Feline Medicine (ISFM) is the veterinary division of International Cat Care (www.icatcare.org), a charity dedicated to improving the health and welfare of cats worldwide.

We understand that there are unique difficulties in bringing a cat to a veterinary clinic:

Cats are natural athletes and are highly active, but over the years this can take its toll. As a consequence older cats can suffer from wear and tear in their joints

Many older cats suffer from arthritis. 9 out of 10 cats over the age of 12 years can suffer from this painful disease. In cats, the elbow joint is most affected, followed by the shoulder and hip. With cats living longer this is a growing problem.

Arthritis causes joints to degenerate over time, causing reduced and painful mobility.

Obesity is an ever increasing problem in many of our pets. Carrying additional weight can put extra stress on all parts of the body and eventually shorten your pet's life span. It can also make conditions such as arthritis worse and makes our pets more prone to diseases such as Diabetes.

Provided your pet is a good traveller taking him or her abroad can be relatively straight forward. However, it requires some forward planning. Conditions for travel to European Union countries vary from those to non- EU countries and specific information is available from respective governments.

A good place to start looking for information is www.gov.uk/take-pet-abroad.

Things to consider before you travel:

Christmas plants can be harmful to our pets especially poinsettias.

Other plants that can cause problems to our pets are lillies, holly, mistletoe and even your Christmas tree.

If you have a real tree, it's a good idea to sweep up any needles that have fallen on the floor to prevent any accidents.